CD Reviews

Death Cab for Cutie | Keys and Codes

Atlantic (2011)

By RYAN REED | November 29, 2011

2.0 Stars

Generally, Ben Gibbard is indie rock's über-dork godfather. But here he just sounds like a dork. And a major one at that. A Death Cab remix album shouldn't suck — after all, that's essentially what Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello's work on the lone and wonderful Postal Service LP was all about. But Keys and Codes, which inverts the title of Death Cab's last record, feels slapped together, which is disappointing when you consider the array of talent present. Unicorn Kid's glossy club treatment of the once-ambient "Unobstructed Views" is hilarious for all the wrong reasons — I'm pretty sure nobody wanted to hear Gibbard's heartfelt everyman croon Auto-Tuned and pitch-shifted into an awkward, effeminate robot. Yet those are the cards we're dealt. And Dillon Francis's undercooked "Underneath the Sycamore" removes every hint of emotion and nuance from the original track in favor of whizzing remix explodo-noises (cool! it's a remix!) and chopped-up vocal samples ("We are — the — same. . . . We — are. . . . We — are"). Even Brooklyn psych-pioneers Yeasayer, whose futuristic synth palette seems more than ideal for remixes, fall flat with their take on "Codes and Keys," which dishes out a plethora of cool noises but not much in the way of song development, instead retreating back to generic remix standards: four-four hi-hats and plenty of liquid drizzle.

Death Cab for Cutie crack familiar Codes
When I phone Walla, who's in Minneapolis with Death Cab on a tour that will bring them to the cozy Paradise a week from Sunday, he's in a reflective mood.
Photos: Death Cab for Cutie at the Bank of America Pavilion
Death Cab for Cutie performs live at the Bank of America Pavilion on August 1, 2011.
Trans Am | What Day Is It Tonight? Trans Am Live, 1993 - 2008
Trans Am are distillers of guilty pleasures, mixing fat AOR riffs with sleazy electronic accents and a propulsive attitude typically reserved for arcade soundtracks. What Day Is It Tonight? covers the DC-area band’s 20-year history with high-quality, high-energy live cuts taken from their many tours.
Various Artists | Where the Action Is: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965 - 1968
More than three years in the making, the most recent installment of Rhino's legendary archival garage-rock series offers an amazingly comprehensive excavation of an absurdly fertile scene.
Various Artists | Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966–1970
Girl-group records are great and everything, yet the countless compilations out there were becoming a little hit-or-miss until 2005, when the great Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found box set finally gave this diverse genre a proper taxonomy.
Various Artists | Casual Victim Pile: Austin 2010
The notion that regional musical flavors exist independently in American cities is quickly becoming an archaic truism, seeing as how the world really is a stage these days, at least in the digital sense.
Bearstronaut | Broken Handclaps
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.
Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo
Look, I get it: the last thing we need right now is yet another band who can be described as “sun-baked,” “reverb-soaked,” or even just “psychedelic.” But Avi Buffalo (I know! An animal name to boot!) are worth your attention for a few reasons.
Secret master
Scratch below the surface of any number of hard-playing jazz musicians these days and you hear a common refrain: "I hardly ever listen to jazz."
Review: Brandon Flowers | Flamingo
Brandon Flowers has gone on record saying he brought the songs on Flamingo to his fellow bandmates for the next Killers album and was given the brush-off.
Review: Kevin Dunn | No Great Lost: Songs 1979–1985
Casa Nueva Industries (2010)
Less

Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Death Cab for Cutie, Death Cab for Cutie, More

| More

Most Popular

The Current Issue

Table of Contents

Cover Archive

Masthead | Authors | Contact us

Blogs

Where To Follow Me
Talking Politics | March 24, 2013 at 11:09 AM

Mo Takes His Turn
March 21, 2013 at 12:59 PM

[Q&A] KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko on art, Columbine and having balls
On The Download | March 18, 2013 at 3:22 PM

See this film series: The Belmont World Film Series @ Studio Cinema in Belmont
Outside The Frame | March 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM

See this film: This is Spinal Tap [with post-film talk by expert from Acoustical Society of America] @ the Coolidge
March 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM

ARTICLES BY RYAN REED

WAVVES | AFRAID OF HEIGHTS | March 18, 2013
"I Can't Dream," the closer on Wavves' fourth studio album, opens in a drunken lo-fi stupor — Nathan Williams warbling bratty, tone-deaf nonsense over hissy acoustic power chords.

THE VIRGINS | STRIKE GENTLY | March 06, 2013
After a half-decade of semi-obscurity, frontman Donald Cumming is redefining his band as the hipster sultans of swing.

ATOMS FOR PEACE | AMOK | February 26, 2013
Kid A , Radiohead's confounding electro-rock masterpiece, is officially hitting puberty.

ATLAS GENIUS | WHEN IT WAS NOW | February 20, 2013
Atlas Genius are schooled students of modern pop architecture, seamlessly bouncing from Coldplay-styled acoustic rock to fizzy Phoenix funkiness to deadpanned Strokes-ian guitar chug. But When It Was Now is more like an alt-pop NOW compilation than a joyous synthesis.